The invention relates generally to beach blankets or beach towels, and is more specifically directed to techniques and devices for preventing the corners of the blankets from being blown and folded over by the wind or wrinkled by accidental kicking.
A typical and well-known problem or nuisance for persons who visit beaches and spread beach blankets on the sand is having the corners and edges of the blanket blown, kicked or pulled over onto the central portion of the blanket. This obviously reduces the size of the blanket and increases the likelihood of sand landing on the central portion. Such a wrinkled or folded blanket or one having sand in the area contacted by the bather's bare skin is usually irritating and has been a perpetual problem for beach-goers.
Many techniques are used in attempts to keep the beach blankets flat and fully extended, the most common being to place shoes, clothing or other beach paraphernalia on the corners or along the edges of the blanket. Sometimes the corners are tied to stakes pounded into the sand, or the stakes may be pounded into the corner of the blanket.
All of these make-shift solutions include practical problems or disadvantages. When clothing or other objects are used as weights the total area of the blanket available to the bather is reduced. Also, the use of such objects as weights is temporary until the objects are needed for their intended purpose, leaving the blanket again susceptible to wind and human forces that invariably result in flipped corners and the unpleasantness of a sand-laden central part of the blanket.
Often one does not have a sufficient number of articles to weigh down the corners. When stakes are employed the user has the burden of transporting, installing and removing them. Furthermore, the exposed ends of the stakes constitute a serious danger for persons using the blanket and others who pass by.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a beach blanket which has its own built-in devices for holding the corners down, and to do so without sacrificing surface area. It is a further object that the built-in devices will utilize for weight material found naturally on the beach, thus relieving the user from having to carry any additional objects. An additional object is to avoid the use of potentially dangerous objects such as stakes.